Western society as a whole has certainly slipped a few ton of notches.

Maybe I'm being too optimistic, but I do think we might have almost hit the most leftward swing of the pendulum. Things are still going to get a lot worse, but I think it's the death throes before the inevitable swing back. More people are getting fed up and, more importantly, the already fed up people are getting more fed up. All it takes is a few people, and the rest follow. Sad but true.